Review of STYLondon Instant Gel Nail Wraps

After lipsticks, I think the one item of make up that I probably buy most frequently is nail polish. I love the variety on the high street, the good prices, and the fact that you can instantly update any outfit with a new nail colour.

There are so many brands that I like; Barry M Gelly’s are a firm favourite, L’Oreal and Maybelline have amazing ranges and I think that Rimmel’s polishes are some of the best out there for the price.

That said however, painting my nails is one of those ‘beauty chores’ which I kind of loathe doing, not least because I have zero patience when it comes to drying them, and almost always end up with smudges having done the inevitable ‘touch of doom’ with something or other. That almost always results in a botched nail and a re-paint in order. I do love having painted nails though, so it’s one of those things which I just have to grin and bear.

Having said that though, there was something in my last Latest in Beauty box which got me pretty excited; Styl-London Instant Gel Nail Wraps. The lazy girl in me freaked out over the prospect of just wacking on some stick-on nails which have the illusion of a gel manicure. No mess. No fuss. And instant results! Perfect….

Except the thing is, when something sounds too good to be true, I find that more often than not, it is. And sadly in this case, the wraps just didn’t quite do the job for me.

You get 14 ‘nails’ in a packet which I suppose allows for a few errors along the way or spares if needed. They are a fairly good size and although were all a little on the larger side, it was no problem trimming the excess off and filing away any edges with the mini file which they pop into the packet. The instructions state to push down firmly on the wrap for a few seconds and to make sure that there is a small amount of space between the wrap and the edges of the nail bed.

I did all that, and yet by the end of the first day of wearing them, they had started to unwrap themselves from my nails.

BOO!

I don’t think I particularly put them through their paces too much either to be honest; I put them on in the morning, went off to work (I’m an administrator so there was a fair bit of filing, typing and general paper/folder rummaging going on). But even so, I didn’t do anything which disrupted the nails too much or would have loosened the wraps.

I came home to find that they were already starting to wilt at the sides on a couple of the nails, and by the end of the same day, I felt compelled to peel them all off which was insanely satisfying.

All-in-all I’m quite gutted by the wraps; I really liked the two-tone red and orange effect which looked so nice on the nails and the finish on them was lovely and glossy. I guess there is no quick fix when it comes to nice nails. Back to polish for me. At least until I find another alternative…. They are available from ASOS and cost £6.99.

If anyone has had a more positive experience with nail wraps then please drop me a comment as I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!